Are Your Feelings Making You Fat?

Twisted logic tells us that being slim will make us happy. But research says that it's more likely to be the other way around: fix your mood and reach your ideal weight. Go on then. Take charge of your food/ mood connection

- Emma Anderson

Obsessing over the scale and food is super-fun... Not. But many women do it. Once we’re slimmer, the reasoning goes, we’ll be happier. We don’t need to tell you that this isn’t a smart way to think. In fact, research shows that dieting eats up valuable brain space, says Prof Eva Kemps, a behavioural psychologist. Her team ran a study comparing “normal eaters” (who didn’t obsess about food), “restrained eaters” (who chronically watched what they ate), dieters and those with eating disorders. “The groups who had preoccupying thoughts about food had more difficulty with being able to remember and coordinate information.”

“It seems that if your brain is busy processing thoughts about food and your weight then you don’t have a lot of capacity left to deal with work or whatever you’re supposed to be doing.” Stressing over the kilojoule content of your avo wrap can have far worse consequences than a lacklustre brainstorming performance, though long term it can spell bad news for your mental health. “People who are fixated on diet tend to have feelings of low self esteem and depression,” adds Kemps. “Research and clinical experience both show a strong link between depression, being overweight and eating disorders,” says psychologist Julie Swinburne.

As to which comes first, well, it’s your chicken-and egg scenario. “High stress and depression leave people unable to focus on basic self-care activities and therefore [they are] at risk of putting on weight,” says Swinburne. “From the other direction, being overweight results in issues of low self-esteem and body dissatisfaction.”

Let’s Get Physical